A TECHNIQUE DRIVEN Blog dedicated to mastery of surface design techniques. First we dye, overdye, paint, stitch, resist, tie, fold, silk screen, stamp, thermofax, batik, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, fuse, slice, dice, AND then we set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Goldilocks and the Three Bears of Finishing

I had hoped to have a couple more pieces finished to show you but, alas, they are not finished and I have lost my camera (again) and can't even take a picture of them unfinished!  Still I wanted to to just thank you all for the wonderful comments you have made this month.  As you can see, I have learned a lot this month.  Just bears out to me the importance of practice and experimentation.  Thanks for taking the journey with me.

 Now on to other important issues such as how to finish my pieces.  I have debated for weeks on how to finish my pieces.

Once upon a time, Goldilocks had made some screen printed fabric she wanted to finish for showing.  She was not sure how to do that.

Quilt:  She really did not care to quilt them.  She thought they looked good enough to not need quilting.  She did not want to quilt just for the sake of quilting.  Also She was worried that they would be limited to quilt shows rather than art shows.  Just too soft an approach.

Stretcher Bars:  She debated stretcher bars and even bought the wood to make them.  But she was worried that putting them on stretchers would make them too much like a painting and would lose the fabric quality of them.  Just too hard of an approach.

Art Cloth:  Beth showed her a short video by Jane Dunnewold showing how she finishes her pieces.  Jane fuses them to felt, leaves the edges completely unfinished, and hangs them on metal bars.  She calls them Art Cloth.  For Goldilocks this was the just right approach!  Still fabric but not distracted by lots of quilting.  Probably not accepted in a regular quilt show but absolutely acceptable in an art gallery.

Decision made!  This Goldilocks (thanks to hair dye with a wonderful free squirt bottle) will finish her printed pieces as art cloths.

The End

3 comments:

  1. Wow!!!! Thank you for posting this. I've been struggling with the same issue as Goldilocks! I'm not a fan of the look of quilting sometimes and my pieces aren't necessarily suitable for that. I'm off to watch the video!

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  2. A great finish, Judith. Just right!

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  3. I like Jane's way of finishing. Look forward to seeing yours when you find your camera.

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